Dyslexic ds and 6th form - this year! - any experience?

[goingmadinthecountry]

Ds got 2.5 Bs and the rest Cs - not enough to get back into his grammar school. He's devastated - was predicted A*for Bio and Chem, other As and Bs with a C for Eng Lang. He worked hard but grammar maybe didn't give the right kind of support. The other schools and 6th form college in our town are not an option but there's a college in the nearest big town (20 miles). Alternatively we could all eat cheap food and never go out and we could probably stretch to a private school with a specialist dyslexia centre. My heart and head say go for the private option - he's really bright but suffers in exams - but dh is obviously worried about money and comes from a whole different place education wise. Anyone been here and gone in one direction or the other?

[SlowlorisIncognito]

I've not been in your situation, but as your DS is presumably now 16, have you asked his opinion on it? He might not be comfortable with putting the family under such financial strain when there are no guarentees he would do well in the exams. It would be a lot of pressure to put him under.

A 20 mile commute is a lot at that age too. Would your DS be happy to do this? What can the college offer in terms of support? Living 20 miles away from the college would impact on your DS's social life, and could lead to him feeling quite isolated.

Why are none of the other schools an option?

What does your DS want to do?

[NoComet]

RE. the commute, it's time not distance that's the killer.

I did 12 miles a day from Y7, it took 15min (good A road and school right on the edge of town)
DDs do 6 miles, but the bus goes an insane route and takes an hour (20 minutes in the car, narrow lanes)

[homework]

Have you looked round the other sixth form school and collages near you, they may have changed since you visited looking at secondary school, and you then generally never look at this at the time.
You need to visit , ring see what they can offer . What was your back up plan if he didn't get the gcse he needed to stay in school.
Have you spoken to anyone when you picked his results up from school , they may have some helpful advice even if he can't go back there.
What would your son like to do now , it's important that he decides , but there not bad grades , so should be able to get onto a course and if you live in a rural location there be loads traveling to various other areas , just depends on public transport and good opener for learning for future employment .

[goingmadinthecountry]

Thanks so much for the responses - have come down from my state of utter panic about my lovely son.

Homework, we are very rural - a mile from bus stop, 4 buses a day etc. Of course we''re following what ds wants to do - his predicted grades and mocks were so good that he (and his school) didn't think he needed a plan b. I'm really proud of him anyway and thrilled given the extent of his dyslexia that he got C for both English Lang and Lit and B for Maths, but he feels he let himself down in sciences. He knows he can do it.

Local schools apart from grammars no good as they either have no 6th form, only do vocational courses unrelated to what ds wants to do or have incredibly poor results. Being rural, he'll have to travel anyway.

We have appointments to see people from the old school, a school with a good 6th form in another town and a FE College on Tuesday and he is being positive. He applied for his provisional licence last night in anticipation of his birthday in November, and in the meantime his sister drives so that will help with drop offs at station etc as she has 11 miles to go to school (her nearest appropriate one). I love where we live but we really didn't think it through when they were toddlers and we moved here! I agree about the pressure on him to perform if we really struggle to pay fees.

Dyslexia as it affects him really is a pain.

[beatback]

GoingMad. Your Ds is the Grammar School"s responsibilty,and therefore surely they have to act in the best intrests of your Ds and not just kick him out with no destination or future care. Because your Ds has not achieved his predicted results, the Grammar school have to take some responsibilty for that and couldn"t the Grammar school come up with an other way, maybe offering your Ds a chance to repeat yr11 and achieve the grades that he is capable of. The Grammar school obviously has standards and expectations but they also cant just drop a pupil (ESPECIALLY) one with a need after 5 years and who has never caused any problems. If the Grammar School dont offer any alternatives i think that is A (DISGRACE).

[goingmadinthecountry]

I agree. Final straw for me was the letter in with the grades from HT - addressed "Dear student". After 5 years writing a name by hand on a gap in a few letters wouldn't have been too much. Will see how we get on there on Tues morning. Sadly no-one from AEN was around on Tuesday and we got to speak to a member of SMT who was giving me the inflexible party line. And more composed now and have got more data together.